Congress 2012 planning is fully
underway. We are finalizing our
Keynote, and have announced our
Sunday English Address speaker: Sr.
Anne Bryan Smollin. Our Congress theme
is "Voice Infusing Life."
You can find posted
information online about the
Congress schedule, spotlights,
speakers, and more. Also be sure to
check the web site for hotel properties
with special attendee rates. So start
your planning now to attend Congress
2012!

Pass along this emailing or our link
—
www.RECongress.org
— to share with friends and encourage
them to sign up for our Congress Emailing
for updates. If you do not care to receive
future updates, you can find removal
information at the bottom of this message.

WHAT IS
CONGRESS?The
Religious Education Congress, sponsored by the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles Office of Religious Education, is the
nation's largest annual gathering of Roman Catholics!
Our last RECongress, held in March 2011, brought together
nearly 40,000 people during the four-day weekend! We
had registrants from across the country and as far away
as Ireland and Australia.

Location
Congress is held at the Anaheim Convention Center, located
at 800 West Katella Ave. in Anaheim, Calif. (just across
from Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure).
See a Yahoo Map

Fee
The registration fee for Congress is $60 per
person. Youth Day has a separate registration
and fee of $20 per person.

Registration
The Registration Guidebook contains all workshop and
speaker descriptions, entertainment and liturgy options,
and all events during Congress. There are two Registration
Forms per book. If you attended RECongress 2011, you
will automatically be mailed a Registration Guidebook.
Guidebooks will be available late-October.

SATURDAY
KEYNOTE ANNOUNCED"The Urgency of Discipleship and Evangelization in Today’s World
"
Many people do not realize how deeply God invests in
humankind. Jesus’ call is personal, urgent and
revolutionary; he promises rest for our souls and
fulfillment for our lives. This keynote will address
the urgency of discipleship and evangelization in
the way Jesus did it – a continuation of God’s
mission and required by all the baptized.

Anthony J. Gittins, CSSpFr. Anthony Gittins, a member of the Spiritan
community, is a native of England. He worked in
Sierra Leone, West Africa through the 1970s, was
Faith Formation Director in London in the early ’80s
and has taught theology since 1984 in Chicago, where
he is currently Professor of Theology and Culture at
the Catholic Theological Union. He spends half the
year giving workshops and retreats nationally and
internationally.You can find our updated listing of Congress
speakers
online — 193 scheduled for this year — presenting
308 workshops over the 4-day weekend. Find the latest listing online.

NEW
FEATURE
AT YOUTH DAY 2012Just a reminder
that there is a change to the format of Youth Day
2012. There will be two
opportunities to see the exact same “flow” in the
Arena — a rally, workshop, and liturgy. We will
repeat that flow twice —
once in the morning and
once in the afternoon —
so everyone gets the chance
to see the same thing. The Guidebooks and online registration
will explain more about it.

ORDER THE REGISTRATION GUIDEBOOK
The Registration Guidebook is your key to
registering for Congress. If you attended Congress
2011, you will automatically receive the book when
it comes out in October. (We even check for postal
address changes for those of you who have moved
since last year!)

If you didn't attend Congress 2011 and would
like to receive the Guidebook, you can sign up
online to be mailed a copy. Also, to save paper, the
Guidebook —
like most of our Congress materials —
will also be available for download.

CONSIDER ADVERTISING
Become a Featured Advertiser with a display ad in
our Registration Guidebook and highlight your
presence at RECongress 2012. Print-ready ads (TIFF,
JPG or PDF) can be emailed to: congress@la-archdiocese.org
(Subject line: RGB Ad) by October 1, 2011.

Our Guidebook is mailed in October to over 25,000
people and viewed on our website by a multitude of
individuals locally, nationally and internationally.
Whether you are a religious community, business,
school or a ministry, this is a wonderful
opportunity to introduce or enhance your outreach.

The Registration Guidebook contains a complete
overview of the Congress weekend including Youth
Day. Included is a welcome message from Archbishop
José Gomez, prefect of the Los Angeles Archdiocese,
and Sister Edith Prendergast, Archdiocesan Director
for the Office of Religious Education, in addition
to speaker listings, workshop and event
descriptions, hotel listings, transportation
opportunities and an Anaheim area map.

HOTELSRECongress has contracted with local
hotels to offer special rates for attendees. We
suggest making hotel reservations as soon as
possible. Check
online for our most current listing of hotels for Congress
attendees. When making reservations, be sure to ask for the Religious Education Congress
rate.
You can find information about contracted hotels on
our web site.

JUST
FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANSRalphs
Grocery Company, a major supermarket chain in the Southern
California area, supports schools, churches and other
non-profit organizations with annual contributions.
The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress is a member
of Ralphs Community Contributions Program. Simply by
using your Ralphs rewards Card
a portion of eligible purchases are contributed to the
RECongress. (Note: This is an annual program that must
be renewed each year. The current term is September
1, 2011 through August 31, 2012.)

If you were part of the program last year, we
thank you, but you will need to update your account this
year. We
encourage all Ralphs shoppers to sign up for the free
Ralphs rewards Card and register their card
with the Community Contributions Program. It’s easy!
Every time you shop for groceries and scan your card
at Ralphs, RECongress will automatically earn up to
5% of all eligible purchases per enrolled card. Sign
up now! It’s never been easier to contribute to the
RECongress.

EMAILING
Our Emailings for Congress 2012 run from September
2011 through April 2012.
Be sure to Sign-up for our Congress Emailing List
for Congress reminders and news. You
may opt out from this Emailing at any time from the
link below.